Thick and Chewy Chocolate Chip PB Cookies – Gluten and Dairy Free

Chewy, thick, almost flaky, and ultimately peanut butter and chocolatey, these adorable cookies pretty cool! The normal peanut butter cookie is super thin and crispy, which just isn’t a very exciting cookie (at least – in my perspective) and if you add in chocolate chips, well – yum!! They are small, just the shape of the dough, creating extra chew because they are tall and thick. The dough can be eaten raw because these cookies are egg free! (My grandpa, who really likes cookie dough, liked that fact!) The dough could even be broken into bits and frozen, to be stirred into dairy free ice cream. The dough is the best dough to work with. It feels like Play – Doh (only GF), and if it does not, just add a splash of DF milk. I have adapted this recipe quite a bit from the cookbook ‘Peas and Thank You’. Of course, the photography is my own and the directions are in my own words.

Directions:
Step 1: In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat to combine the Earth Balance, peanut butter, brown sugar, powdered sugar, and vanilla extract until well combined.
Step 2: In a separate bowl, whisk together the GF flour, salt, baking soda, and baking powder.
Step 3: Add about half of the dry mixture to the wet mixture and stir to combine. Add the rest and continue mixing until you get a consistency just like Play – Doh. If the dough is too thick or crumbly, add a tablespoon or so of DF milk.
Step 4: Add in the chocolate. Place the dough in the refrigerator and chill for about 30 minutes, or until firm and cool. After about 15 minutes, preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Step 5: Using a cookie dough scooper or your fingers, scoop about two tablespoons of dough onto a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper.
Step 6: Place in the preheated oven and bake for about 15 minutes, or until firm on top. The balls last at least a few days in an airtight container on the counter, and would probably last longer, but I gave them to a friend. Enjoy!

These look delicious. Did you add sea salt to the top of these? And if so, when? Before you bake them? You didn’t mention it in your description, but I think salt would be a tasty surprise to the tongue as you bite into the cookie. As always, I like your photography!